News Releases

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 29, 2014) - According to the semi-annual BMO Small Business Confidence Report released today, Canadian business owners' confidence in the state of the economy and their business prospects has risen compared to earlier this year, with more than half of entrepreneurs expecting 2015 will be a better year for their company.

The BMO Small Business Confidence Report produces an index score that measures the level of confidence small business owners have in the economy and their business prospects based on a series of key indicators, including their predictions for performance, economic outlook, growth expectations and plans for investment. As a single-figure snapshot of small business confidence, the current index score registers at 68 out of 100 - up slightly from this past spring (65 out of 100).

"Small Business Month is around the corner, and according to the semi-annual outlook, Canadian small business owners believe their organizations are in good-health and are picking up momentum in order to rebuild the solid business foundation of previous years," said Steve Murphy, Head, Canadian Commercial Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal. "Of particular interest, business owners from nearly every province, have an increased level of optimism compared to earlier this year."

BMO Small Business Confidence Index Scores:

OUTLOOK		NATIONAL	BC	AB	PRAIRES	ON	QC	ATL
Confidence Index Score	Fall 2014	68	75	69	65	66	64	66
	Spring 2014	65	69	70	61	67	58	63
	Fall 2013	70	74	73	60	70	70	68
	Spring 2013	59	64	59	54	59	57	62

2015 Expected to be Better for Business: Business owners across the country share a positive outlook for the year ahead; up three points from March 2014.

	Overall	B.C.	AB	PRAIRIES	ON	QC	ATL
Believe 2015 will be better for business	59%	64%	66%	61%	56%	55%	63%
Believe 2015 will be worse for business	14%	6%	15%	24%	20%	7%	18%

View on the Economy: More than half of Canadian business owners believe the economy will be better for the remainder of 2014; up from 47 per cent in the spring.

	Overall	B.C.	AB	PRAIRIES	ON	QC	ATL
Expect the economy to be better for the rest of 2014	51%	61%	58%	65%	47%	41%	56%
Expect the economy to be worsen for the rest of 2014	9%	4%	5%	12%	11%	11%	10%

Growth Prospects: Businesses owners are five times more likely to expect their business to growth rather than shrink, up 5 per cent compared to this last spring.

	Overall	B.C.	AB	PRAIRIES	ON	QC	ATL
Expect business to grow in 2015	51%	59%	48%	40%	54%	45%	56%
Expect business to shrink in 2015	8%	7%	6%	12%	9%	7%	10%

Investing in 2015: One-quarter of business owners plan to invest more in their business in 2015, down from 28 per cent earlier this year.

	Overall	B.C.	AB	PRAIRIES	ON	QC	ATL
Plan to invest more in 2015	25%	38%	20%	22%	25%	19%	24%
Plan to invest less in 2015	16%	8%	9%	21%	18%	20%	15%

Mr. Murphy noted that Canadian business can get a head start with the BMO^® Biz Starter for Small Business. With the tools and expertise to simplify your finances, BMO can be a big part of growing your business. Find out more at www.bmo.com/bizstarter.

Business owners' who sign up for BMO^® Biz Starter for Small Business will also get access to an innovative new product called PAYD^TM‡ Pro - Canada's first smartphone-based mobile Interac^® Debit and credit payment solution using EMV^®+ Chip & PIN and contactless technology - which enables BMO customers to accept debit and credit card payments on the go.

For more information on BMO and PAYD Pro, please visit our website or drop by a local branch.

Results cited above come from a Pollara telephone survey with 502 Canadian business owners, conducted between August 11^th and 28^th, 2014. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 4.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services organization based in North America. The bank offers a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers. BMO Financial Group had more than $586 billion in total assets and approximately 47,000 employees at July 31, 2014.